"So where is this elevator going to bring me?" I ask, as I turn to look at it.
"It will transport you to the other levels in the ship," Angela replied. "Lower levels are going to be closer to the main control center. The bridge as you might call it. And larger numbers are going to take you further away." She paused for a moment. "Might I recommend moving further away from the location most likely to contain Dracktari, which at the center of the ship, as they might be angry at you moving about their ship, rather than staying where you have been told to stay."
I ignore her thinly veiled admonishment. "But would the emergency evacuation system not be most likely to be where the crew and passengers live and work, rather than in the cargo area?" I ask.
"Yes," Angela replies. "It is normal for the emergency evacuation systems to be in the central areas."
Again there was no trace of sarcasm, so I tried to reframe my question. "How many other levels are there on the ship and what can I expect to find on them?"
"Well, most of the ship will be cargo levels, and those levels will not have any life support and as such won't be directly accessible from here. They would be just transport modules attached to the ship," Angela explained. "If you need to access them you would have to go outside. Do a spacewalk as you humans call it."
"OK," I say. "I don't think I'm quite ready for a spacewalk."
"No," Angela agrees. "The command and control centers will in the middle of the ship and the passenger and light cargo levels on either side that. This is where we currently are."
"Are we passengers or light cargo?" I ask.
"Most willing passengers who have paid for transport would outfit these compartments with the basic necessities for their journey. But as we are slaves I guess the Dracktari didn't feel the need to provide us with any material comforts."
"No," I smiled wryly at her. "They sure didn't."
"It seems that it will be an uncomfortable journey for us," Angela says.
"Uncomfortable journey?" I ask. "Are you really planning on just going quietly along with these aliens who have kidnapped us?"
She looks at me for a moment. "What else can we do?" she asks.
"We can try to escape!" I say.
"Escape to where?" Angela asks. "We are on a starship in outer space. There is nowhere to go except into hard vacuum.
"Well, we can still explore the ship and see what we can find," I say. "There's got to be something that we can use." I can not understand why she is not willing to even try.
"What we will find will be the standard inside of a modular commercial starship," Angela replies.
"But we could use the escape pods, or even steal a shuttlecraft," I say.
"That would be unlikely," Angela says. "Any emergency escape systems would most likely be located at the center of the ship where the crew spends most of their time, and so you will surely be discovered before you can affect your escape."
"Yes," I say. "But if I am to get off this ship I shall have to go there."
"Yes," Angela replies.
I look at her for a moment. Then realize that I am not going to change her mind. So I swiftly turn and walk across to the elevator, closing my eyes briefly as a wave of vertigo catches me off guard. I don't think I am ever going to get used to this artificial gravity.
Stepping onto the platform part of the corridor I take hold of the handrail and with a deep breath, I press my hand against the panel. But nothing happens.
I take my hand away and press it against the control panel again. Maybe they have locked the elevator, I think. The aliens might not care if their kidnap victims wander around the cargo area, but I am sure they would not want us to gain access to the control of the starship. I laugh, not that we would know how to fly an alien starship.
I look back at Angela as I stand here on the unmoving platform.
"Perhaps you must push in the direction you wish to travel," Angela calls out.
"OK," I say and push upwards against the panel.
There is a jolt and a low grinding noise, as the platform starts to move. I am half expecting the deafening klaxon that the door to the storage compartment made. But this mechanism sticks to a low, rumbling grind.
The platform shutters and moves a couple of inches to the side. I was expecting the 'elevator' to move upwards. I guess that if the artificial gravity of the ship runs along the core and the levels are all laid out like donuts packed side by side, that the elevator should move to the horizontally as it travels from level to level.
But my musings are rather academic as the elevator platform has done nothing other than making a grinding noise and shaking from side to side.
I look at Angela to ask if I am doing it correctly. But she just stands there passively watching me. Just as I open my mouth to talk to her, the platform gives another sharp jolt, nearly knocking me off my feet as it springs quickly to the side. My view of the corridor is replaced by a smooth metal wall, and I am on my way to who knows where.
Chapter Three
But once the platform has bumped and ground its way to the side for a few seconds it comes to a halt once more. I look around. On either side of me are the plain metal panels that from the walls of the tunnel that this platform travels through. At the front and back of the platform are the two panels that had been the walls of the corridor when the platform was at the level of the storage compartment the Dracktari had put us in. They go from floor to ceiling and completely fill the tunnel. Above me is more metal. Below is the platform that I am standing on. If the platform gets stuck in this tunnel there is no way that I can get out.
I press my hand hard against the elevator's control panel. But nothing happens. I try again and a low rumbling noise emanates from somewhere below me, making the platform shake a little, but not move.
Just as a feeling of panic threatens to rise up inside me the platform shudders again and starts to grind its way along once more. I breath a sigh of relief. But the shuddering and nasty sounding noises that accompany the irregular movement do not inspire much confidence that this elevator will in fact get me safely to my destination.
But then, I think, it is not like my destination is going to be very safe. Not if it is the command and control center of the ship inhabited by these Dracktari.
Then I think about the air conditioning. Is there any fresh air coming into this space? I ask myself. But then I am on a space ship, so is there fresh for the whole ship? If the ship is damaged, and the malfunctioning door and elevator platform do indicated some kind of problem, then I am quite sure that if the ship starts running out of air the Dracktari are not going to think twice about cutting off the air supply of their captives if there isn't enough to go around.
The tide of panic starts to rise up inside me again. But I force myself to take a deep breath. Firstly there is nothing that I can do if these aliens decide to turn off our air. And secondly even if there is no fresh air I should have some time before the air in this elevator is used up, and me panicking and breathing fast will only use up the oxygen faster. Or so I have been told by every Hollywood movie about people being trapped in confined spaces. I laugh, So now my main source of information is Hollywood movies.
I am jolted from my thoughts by the platform shuddering and jerking along another couple of feet before grinding to a halt once more.
Well, at least I am making some kind of progress, I say to myself. I bang my hand against the control panel to see if I can hurry the platform along. But nothing happens. The platform sits here shaking softly as a grinding noise eliminates from somewhere below me.
A few seconds later the grinding noise turns into a kind of a chunky growl and the platform shudders along the tunnel for a few seconds before coming to a halt yet again. I assume that the elevator is affected by the same alien parasite that has affected the other ship's systems, like the door to the storage compartment that the Dracktari had kept us in.
"This is going to be a long journey," I say out loud. The star ship will probab
ly be halfway to the next star system before I've gone up even one floor, I think to myself, as I sigh in frustration. But there is noting that I can do but endure my choppy journey. And worry about things that I can not control.
The platform starts rocking back and forth, almost knocking me off balance as it shakes randomly. I grab hold of the hand rail and manage to keep from falling. But as the platform comes to a stop once more I can see a small gap between the front panel and the end wall of the tunnel. It looks as if the elevator has reached the next level. I feel like a miner who has been trapped under ground finally seeing a crack of light as the rescue team digs them out. But for the moment all I can do impatiently hit the control panel as I stare at the sliver of light.
Perhaps hitting the control panel over and over again is helping, perhaps not. But the platform shudders and shakes and jumps forward another six inches. By pressing my head against the front panel I can see around the edge of the tunnel. But it is another storage area corridor, just like the one I have just come from.
I am tossed to the floor as the platform shudders and shakes once more and slides out fully into the corridor. With am almost human sigh the platform settlers down and all the grinding and shuddering stops. I am sprawled on my back looking at the ceiling. Which is just a featureless glowing panel that spans the with of the corridor and casts an almost shadowless glare.
I scramble to my feet and look up and down the corridor. The noise of the elevator's arrival has not attracted the attention of nay aliens. Or at least if there are any aliens on this level they have not come to investigate.
This corridor looks like a copy of the one I have just left. None of the doors are open and I can not tell what the aliens might have stored in any of the compartments. There is probably no point in me investigating these storage compartments. I want to find a way of this ship, not steal it's contents. Through the thought of stealing some advanced alien technology that could make me a fortune back on Earth briefly entires my mind. But then the through of being locked in some government laboratory while they try to figure out how I a girl who works in a coffee shop ended up with advanced alien technology dissuades me for even trying.
No, I say to myself as I turn back to the elevator's control panel, I need to get of this ship alive. After that I can worry about the rest of my life.
I press my hand against the control panel once more. The elevator mechanism starts to grind under my feet and a few seconds it jerks forward and into the next section of tunnel.
It is at this point that I stop to consider just how big this ship might be. Some of the container ships that sail the oceans of Earth are thousands of feet long. There is no reason to suppose that interstellar space ships are any smaller. In fact, it makes sense that they would be bigger. Just think about the size difference between the small sailing ships of a few hundred years ago and the enormous super tankers of the modern world. It would make sense that this space ship could be miles long. And at the rate I am currently traveling it might take me days, or even weeks, to get to the central control level.
A feeling of panic starts to take hold of me as I realize that even when I get to the central part of the ship, who knows what I will find there? More aliens presumably. Aliens who might not take too kindly to me roaming about their ship. And how would I even recognize an escape pod even if I find one? I can't real the alien language. There is no reason that they'll have an English sign saying "in case of emergency break glass". I began to question what the hell I was doing.
But then I through of Angela and the others back in the storage compartment. Whatever the fuck I'm doing, I think to myself, it's better than sitting in that storage compartment waiting to die.
I clam myself down and sit on the floor of the platform, no longer worrying about how slow its intermittent movement is carrying me. Nor what awaits me when I do eventually get there.
The platform jerks forward another few inches and I notice a green stain on the otherwise pristine wall. A few minutes later as the platform jerks along another six inches I see more of the stain. I lean forward to look more closely. The green stain looks like it is eating into the metal of the wall. Almost like acid.
The elevator platform shudders and grinds forward another few feet and I see an actual hole in the wall. Looking through I can see a tangled mess of wires and circuitry, all dripping with green goo.
I do not know if the green goo is supposed to be there or if it is the alien parasite that has infected the ship. I am not even sure how a parasite can infect a ship. But then I know nothing of alien technology. Maybe everything on a space is organic and biological rather then the mechanical machines I am used to.
The elevator platform shudders and shakes along another couple of feet and exposes more of the internal workings of the starship. And hanging there, in a little nest of wiring and goo, is a bright green orb. Looking for all the world like some kind of fruit hanging from an weird alien tree
A fruit? I ask myself. It definitely looks like a fruit.
My stomach rumbles, but my mind says, nobody, no matter how alien, grows fruit in an elevator shaft
But it looks like a fruit. Despite its alien color. For no fruit on Earth is as glossy a green as this one. Nor be as perfectly spherical. With not a mark or blemish on it.
My stomach rumbles again, this time speaking louder than my more cautious mind.
I reach out to touch, and as soon as my fingertips brush against it's skin it detaches and drops tot eh floor at my feet, making a soft squishing sound. I bend down and pick up the green orb to examine it more closely.
It is surprisingly light. Almost like it was made of feathers rather than anything solid. The skin has a waxy sheen and small dimples. Like a cross between an apple and an orange.
I hold it to my face and sniff.
My stomach growls again and my mouth fills with saliva as the sweet scent invades my nostrils.
Before I realize what I am doing my mouth has opened and I have taken a bite from it. But the momentary burst of panic that I might just have poisoned myself is swept away by the delicious taste of syrupy juice that flows into my mouth and down my throat. I can not stop myself and do not want too, as I devour the fruit in seconds flat. Skin and flesh, there are no seeds or core or anything, just delicious tasting sweet, sweet ambrosia.
It is only as I am licking the juice from my fingers that I once again wonder if it was safe.
But I really do not care as for what feels like the first time in my life I finally know what it is like to have my hunger satisfied. I were to suddenly convulse and die right on the spot it would be totally worth it. I sit down and bask in the complete fulfillment that radiates from my body.
Even the shuddering and shaking of the platform as it jerks along the tunnel can not interrupt the absolute contentment that I now feel.
Then I wonder why there would be fruit growing in an elevator shaft?
I know these are aliens and everything but growing fruit in an elevator shaft seems a very strange thing to do. They can't be that different. Can they?
But my stomach feels OK. In fact I feel much better now that I've eaten it.
Then the elevator approaches another corridor. It shudders to a stop with about six inches sticking out into the next level. I press my hand against the control panel and hear a grinding sound from under my feet. The platform vibrates and shakes a little but does not move forward.
Then I hear the snarling cat sound of a Dracktari talking and I freeze. My heart is pounding in my chest and I am suddenly acutely aware that I am exposed. With the elevator platform sticking half way out into the next corridor there is nowhere for me to hide.
I press my head to the end panel and look both ways, up and down, the corridor. But I can not see anything except the same kind of corridor that I have already seen.
More squealing cat speak echoes down the corridor. This time there is more than one voice. Mayne three. And they seem to be coming closer. If they walk along the corr
idor they can not fail to see the elevator sticking out.
I look at the control panel, unsure if I want to try to make the elevator move forward or back down the tunnel before I am discovered. I can tell that the squealing cats are definitely coming closer. And they don't sound very happy.
Though, I guess, I have no idea what a happy Dracktari sounds like. Or even if they feel happiness.
Discretion being the better part of valor, I decide to move back to the far end of the elevator and hope that they'll ignore the malfunctioning elevator sticking part of the way out into the corridor and will simply treat it as another maintenance job that they do not want to do at the moment.
But just as I reach the rear panel the grinding mechanism below my feet makes a high pitched whine and the elevator jerks into movement once more.
I put my hand to the panel. But there is no control pad at this side of the elevator. I look towards the other panel and see that the elevator platform is moving slowly, but inextricably, out into the corridor. And the squealing cat voices are nearly upon me.
The elevator platform slides smoothly out into the corridor. Here, at least, the mechanism seems to be working properly.
I stand still, pressed up against the panel, and look down the corridor. About six feet away from me, their feet and lower legs still hidden by the curving floor, are three Dracktari.
They come to a halt and fall silent as they catch sight of me.
Two of them are about the same size and shape as the one that came to the storage contained with the new captive. And another, about a foot taller and wider, is walking slightly in front of the other two.
I look at them.
They look at me.
For a long moment nothing happens.
I am too shocked to even think of moving.
But with another mechanical whine the elevator platform shakes and thumps to a halt as it locks itself in place aligned with the walls of the corridor. The noise breaks the spell.
I glance across at the control panel and wonder if I could make it across the platform and get then elevator moving in time to escape back down the way I have just come.
Kidnapped Page 3